Just ahead on "Black Issues Forum," from grape to glass, the stories behind black-owned wineries are rich with legacy and bold with vision.

We explore what ownership tastes like in an industry where representation is rare, but the roots run deep, and the future is being uncorked one bottle at a time.

Coming up next, stay with us.

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(upbeat music) ♪ - Welcome to Black Issues Forum, I'm Kenia Thompson.

Today, we're indulging in something a little bit different, but deeply rooted in legacy, labor, and love, wine.

We're going to the heart of Seven Springs Farm Vineyard in North Carolina, and it's nestled in this beautiful, peaceful hills of Warren County.

This black-owned family-run winery is defying the odds in an industry where less than 1% of US wineries are black-owned.

I spent time there with executive producer Deborah Holt Noel, and we met with the family to learn about their journey, the soil they steward, and the beauty of building a legacy.

Let's take a look.

- We are the owners of Seven Springs Farm and Vineyard.

It is a peaceful place.

It's about 140 acres, and the Williams family own it.

We purchased this property in 1987.

We were living in Raleigh, went out on Buffalo Road, looking for a house seat.

Had a friend that worked for Farmers Home.

He said, "Look, we're getting ready to take a farm in."

It's about 140 acres.

If you bid $50,000 on it, put a $5,000 cashier's check in an envelope, you'll get it.

So, that's what we did.

We put the $5,000 cashier's check in, opened it up, and we were the highest bidders for the farm.

Even before we started, we put together a five-year plan, and we put together every element of what we wanted Seven Springs to look like.

We put it on paper.

We didn't just think about it, talk about it.

We wrote it out.

The primary function was to have a vineyard.

And as you can see, the vineyard and the wine, the tasting room, go hand in hand.

But we realized, too, the competitive nature of wine.

So, what we did, we decided to do entertainment.

And with entertainment, that is the part of the plan that really, the engine that runs Seven Springs.

Because what we're doing, instead of us taking wine out to people, we are bringing our people in to purchase from us.

And that's taking the competition out of our wine sales.

- We know that with a family-owned business, there are challenges, and it is, because each person has their own personality.

So, it's been a joy.

It's almost been, I would say, sometimes being small, because we have our adult children that are working with us.

And so, it's been a blessing.

- Our family has been tight-knit like this since inception, since me and my mom and dad got married in 1987.

And our family's been tight-knit through it all, ups, downs, just life.

And we always found a way to come together.

This business is an example of it, just showing it to the world.

All of the sons and family members have their lanes in what they do, but that's their gift, and your gift always makes more.

- Three sons, Preston, Cornelius, and Jamal, each person has their own area carved out.

And what we try not to do is to cross over into another person, to give them their space to do what they do best.

All of the sons and family members have their lanes in what they do, but that's their gift, and your gift always makes more.

- My role is pretty much, I'm kind of the floater, whatever needs to be done.

So, I might be in here in the tasting room, doing tastings, I might be helping with parking, I might be pouring wine, I might be lifting wine cases, I might literally be helping a little old lady to her seat.

So, my role is pretty much whatever needs to be done, that's kind of what I've taken care of.

That's what I do.

- My middle brother, Cornelius, Aaron Williams, and his wife, my sister in love, sister in love, right?

Keisha, that's their business.

So, they have a creative aspect, and obviously, this Summer Springs is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop, and the Williams family and extensions of that.

So, the merchandise is an aspect of that, from the t-shirt ideas, to the hat that's on my head here, to this stitched piece of merchandise.

So, everything you see here that is hanging up, they've created.

So, everything you see here, we actually make ourselves.

So, we got some magnets here, hats, we've got some tumblers right here.

So, yeah, that's what we do here at the business.

You know, we understand our responsibility.

It's the standard, the Williams and Summer Springs standard in general, where we wanna do things with excellence across the board.

And is it black excellence?

Is it excellence?

Yes, it's all that together.

We're just, we're a black family, but we're still a family.

At the same time, we're a black business, but we're still a business, and we have a standard around that.

So, we wanna be excellent across the board.

The brand is the family.

The brand is the vineyard.

The brand is something that I believe that is not anywhere in the world.

We try to create an atmosphere where if you are stressed during the course of our conversation, you're gonna forget all about what you were dealing with and realize that I am just in a peaceful place that we can let go and just relax.

- At present, we have six Airbnbs, and four of them are cabins.

Three of the cabins are around the pond.

The cabins sleep at least four people.

They're one bedroom, and then we have a pull-out couch, so they do sleep four people.

We have one that's a studio.

It sleeps two people.

And then we have a house that's a three-bedroom house that sleeps six people.

Three bedrooms, two baths.

- So, it's a differentiated experience.

You know, you come for an event, you can come for a wine tasting, you can come to have jams and jellies, you can come to indoor event center, you can come to do an overnight stay.

- Our model's a good time all the time.

So, you come in, we direct you to your parking, we get your tickets, direct you to your seat.

We'll have a variety of food trucks out here, food vendors, we'll have different kind of vendors set up that sell different types of products.

And it's a pretty good time.

Our wine is always chilled, and we say, "Leave your worries back at the curb."

Whenever you cross our property, you're good to go, you're gonna have a good time.

This weekend, our theme is gonna be our 90s event.

So, we've got a lot of different bands that are all R&B and hip hop.

We've had a go-go fest here that happens once a year, so we get a lot of bands from the D.C. area.

So, it all depends on what kind of theme we're having, and our patrons let us know that, "Hey, maybe you guys should invite this band over here."

So, it's really how, it's kind of a collaborative process between us, the management team, and our patrons.

- You know, we stick to who we are.

You know, I think if you're authentic, the Lord will bring you the right people.

More importantly, your business model will cater to those people that wanna see you succeed.

- Now, we're turning our attention to someone who's making her own waves in the industry.

Lashonda Modest is the founder of Melonated Wine, a modern, unapologetically bold wine brand that celebrates culture, community, and the joy of representation.

Welcome to the show.

- Thank you for having me.

- Yes, and next to you, we have our beautiful executive producer, Deborah Holt-Noel, who spent time with me at Seven Springs.

- Well, I spent time with her.

- And it was so much fun.

I'm always excited to join Black Issues Forum as a guest, but when we went to Seven Springs, I must admit, I was surprised.

It's a beautiful landscape, lots of greenery, reminded me of kind of going home to the country because every summer we would go to North Carolina from New Jersey, and it just reminded me of my grandmother's land, of her wine, and it's a beautiful space and a fun time.

- It was gorgeous, and the wine was delicious.

- And the wine was very good.

- Now, that was a vineyard, though, and so, Lashonda, tell us a little bit about Melonated Wine and the urban winery experience.

- Yeah, so Melonated Wine is an urban winery, and the difference is, Melonated Wine, the urban winery aspect is that we don't sit on a vineyard and we don't own a vineyard, so we actually purchase the grapes from different vineyards around North Carolina.

We don't go out of the state for anything.

We then crush, bottle, produce off-site, and bring that finished product on-site to our tasting room where we provide that tasting experience, so we're focused on providing a fun and interactive tasting experience as opposed to the aesthetics of a vineyard.

- And you've experienced both, Deb.

- I've had an opportunity to go to both, so I loved going to Melonated Wine in Durham because you had that kind of evening experience.

I haven't done a tasting there, but what I experienced was going there for one of your events.

And they had music out there.

There was a saxophonist, and you sit at the tables, and you sip wine, and I think you might've had some charcuteries, and I've even done an event out at Melonated Wine with one of my groups, and that was a lot of fun.

It's just a very intimate space, but in the back, I don't know if you still can open it up, like when it's warm outside, but going over to Seven Springs, it was really quiet, and just lovely and peaceful, and the wines taste very different.

I like them both, but they're very different.

- Yeah, so then describe, and we will do a little tasting, 'cause I haven't tasted any of it yet, so we'll taste a little bit later.

But tell me the difference between, I guess you've had Seven Springs?

- I have, very good wine, very good wine.

I think we're just focused on two different, probably, aspects.

I'm not sure if Seven Springs gets all their grapes from North Carolina, but we're very specific about focusing on North Carolina, what we can grow here.

Everyone thinks that North Carolina is a Muscadine and Scuppernog only, and we're really trying to showcase that.

We grow some really good stuff here, and we can showcase that, the different, the varieties of what we have here.

So it's very specific about trying to showcase that we grow really good grapes here, and it's not just a Muscadine and a Scuppernog.

So I think it's just the focus, it's just a bit different, both really good wines.

Just the focus is different.

- And I think that the grapes for Seven Springs all come from the property, so they're all North Carolina grapes.

- Which is awesome, so yeah.

- And her grapes come from Childress Vineyard still, correct?

- Not all from Childress, but mostly.

All the production is definitely at Childress, but we'll chop around to different, and then Mark will do his work.

- Right, right, but it's a very crisp and elegant wine, but it definitely appeals to the research that you've done on targeting what people enjoy drinking.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

Now, we've mentioned it before, but less than 1% of wineries or vineyards are owned, black owned.

- Yeah.

- What does it mean to be in this space as a black owner, and what challenges may arise as a result, if any?

- Yeah, there are challenges, of course.

With any industry that we're breaking into, there are always challenges, and it was, you know how they say, if you don't see the change, become it?

That was really a part of what we were wanting to do in this industry.

There is less than 1%, but yet, as far as consumers, we're over 90% of the consumers, right?

For women, more than 85%, so it was definitely about becoming the change that you want to see and breaking in.

- Yeah, and I love that you wanted to get in that space, and I've always wondered, how do you even begin?

Where does the thought even come, hey, I think I wanna open a winery?

Did you have any experience?

- No, no experience at all.

- None at all.

My background was in QA and clinical research.

- Really?

- Yeah, so there was no-- - So how'd it happen?

- Yeah, so my husband, originally, so he was getting his grad at Duke and ended up doing a project and was looking for some representation for the type of film that he was creating, and then with that, he couldn't find anything, so he's like, I think you should do this, and I'm like, yeah, no.

(laughing) - You should do this.

- That's always our first response, not me.

- No, no.

- And then you were marinating on it.

- Yeah, eventually, you give me anything, I'll go down a rabbit hole, and we really, we're just entrepreneurs at heart, so it wasn't too far-fetched.

It was just scary because this is an industry that's like, clearly, I can't do this, right?

And then it was, especially here in North Carolina, originally, you can't become a winery if you don't sit on so many acres of land, so that was a real big challenge, and we had a lot of winery owners, of course, Mark and Jill just kind of help and say, no, you all can do this, and we're gonna help you figure out how we can do this.

- Community.

- Yeah, it was really, it's really a big and tight-knit community when it comes to the vineyard and winery owners, and when I can say, there have been challenges, but I've had, we've had so much help from everyone.

- And Mark, last name?

- Frizzelowski.

- Yes.

- Mark Frizzelowski.

So he's been a great mentor, he's been in the industry over 40 years, closer to 50 years.

He knows exactly what he's doing, so selecting him, us selecting each other to create Melonated Wine has just been an amazing experience.

- And how'd you come up with the name?

- Oh my God, the name?

We were really just kind of sitting with it, and we knew that we wanted something that represented our culture, and it just, it literally rolled off my tongue, and my husband was like, that's it.

And I'm like, really?

He's like, that's it, we're doing it, that's it.

So it just, we were just blessed to-- - And honestly, I would have sort of been scared to call it Melonated, and especially as we consider the current environment, he's still thriving with that name.

- Yes, and so to pause there, when did you start this?

- In 2021.

- Okay, so pandemic.

- Yeah, pandemic, yeah.

It was a very bold and courageous move to say, okay, we're gonna go with Melonated Wine, but we definitely wanted the representation to be there, but to want everyone to understand, everyone is welcome, and everyone has been welcomed, and have come to the tasting room and just enjoyed and had an amazing time.

- And at the end of the day, we're all Melonated, are we not?

- We're all Melonated.

- Yeah, we're all Melonated.

- And I just wanted to pick up on something that you said earlier about entrepreneurship.

I just returned from a trip to Brevard, and just about everyone I met had that entrepreneurial mindset.

They first either owned the land, or they owned a business, or someone in their family did, and I think it's so important for people, and for us as a community, to capture that ownership and entrepreneurial mindset that Preston has, that you have acquired.

So often, our first stop is, we're gonna go buy, but to really grow up believing, and just having it second nature, that I'm gonna own something, I think I'll go over here and open up this building.

That is so critical.

- Generational building of legacy, too.

- Absolutely.

It was first, not introduced, but I saw it growing up.

My family, back home, has a restaurant, so it's just been my entire family, our entrepreneurs.

So seeing that, I knew it was not only possible, but it's like a first nature for me.

I just can't help it.

I see something, and it's like, oh, I should create that.

I should do that.

So I think definitely showing people not only that it's possible, but that you can do this.

You can do this.

- By you doing that, it cultivates that mindset, I would hope, even for people outside of your family.

So the more we're doing this, and the more that we're seeing us in these positions, which is why so often on Black Issues Forum, we're profiling black-owned businesses, because we need to see ourselves in that position.

- To know that it is possible, absolutely, especially in the wine industry, the representation is very important, because it is so scary for people.

They don't think it's possible.

- So let's talk a little bit more about the relationship to alcohol, the relationship to how, it can be abused, but I imagine you're kind of taking back that narrative with this brand, and teaching and showing people that it can be a healthy relationship with alcohol.

How did you, or did you think about the responsibility there in reeducating folks on what healthy alcohol relationships look like?

- I think it was more so wanting to educate people on alcohol, and it started wanting people to know, oh, when you go to a restaurant, or go and shop, and do things like that, that you kind of know what wine you're looking for, and it's not so intimidating, but eventually it did evolve into wanting people to understand that you can have a healthy relationship with wine, with alcohol, these are the, this is how much you can consume.

Even in our tasting room, when people are coming and doing a tasting, I'm always pushing, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, because you are consuming a certain amount of wine in such a short period of time, and then we specifically have a buffer time after people have finished their tasting, to then again, push more water to hydrate, but it's like a window after they've consumed, so that we feel safe when they leave our tasting room, that they're okay.

- That's so smart.

Do you guys still have the slushies?

- We do have a lot.

- Those are good.

- They're very popular.

- And I hope that before we get out, you're gonna share with us which one that is, and which grapes.

- Yes, I absolutely will.

- Yeah, and so let's talk a little bit about perception of wine not being for us, right?

That wine is more of an elite, more of a elevated experience that not black people are always privy to.

- Listen, we were sipping wine in my grandmother's house at Christmas time, because she made the wine, so I don't know where that comes from.

- Well, it's a part of my culture, so I can remember.

- I think it's how we view ourselves, right?

Because you say people do think that it's of this elite, and it is, right?

But we have to see ourselves as that.

So I think it's how we see ourselves, and knowing that you are of this elite nature that you see this wine on.

I think it's, as we often say, de-complicating the wine, and it is often intimidating for people, but when you're explaining, you create the environment.

At Melanated Wine, we're very intentional about creating the environment where it's so relaxed, it's so chill, you may think that you're at home in your own wine room, and even our interactions from the moment you walk through the door, we're making sure that you feel that, so that once we are explaining the wines to you and helping you understand what you're drinking and what you may find in it, that you feel so relaxed and to ask questions, and so we try to create the-- - So tell us what we have here.

- Yeah, so here we have our Riesling.

It is an off-dry, semi-sweet Riesling aged in a stainless steel tank.

This one is so beautiful, it's the most versatile one that we have.

I often tell people, "You could drink this "for breakfast, lunch, or dinner."

(laughing) But this one is a really nice, just even-kill wine.

It has just some really nice notes in it.

It's just the perfect blend.

It's a really nice Riesling.

- What are some of your best-selling ones?

- Okay, this is what's funny.

I promise you, they all are.

I was just speaking to our tasting room manager, and she said, "People often ask this question," and she and I have the same response.

They are all very popular.

It really depends on the season and what you specifically like, but they are all very popular.

If you are a red wine drinker, you're definitely gonna love our red.

Chardonnay, you're gonna love our chard.

We introduce people to the Riesling, they love it.

If you're a sweet wine drinker, we definitely have you on that, too.

Oh, we have two really good sweet wines that you will definitely enjoy, but they are all very popular.

- And is the grape called a Riesling grape?

- Yes, this is a Riesling grape.

- And you also have event experiences that happen.

- Yes, yes, we have weekly events.

So we are open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and every Thursday and Friday, you can find an event.

We're always doing really fun things.

So if you go to our website and check our calendar, those events are always listed.

- That's beautiful.

And so when we think about what's coming next, where do you see melanated wine growing to?

- Yeah, so melanated wine, this brand is just, it's so beautiful and people really do just enjoy the experience that we provide.

So we are definitely gonna be focused on placing more melanated wine tasting rooms throughout the, not just Triangle, but far and beyond.

- The state, beyond.

- Yes, yes, so definitely planting more tasting rooms.

We're still not interested in obtaining a vineyard or doing any of that.

We're not farmers, so we're not interested in that, but definitely providing that experience in other locations.

So planting more tasting rooms.

- So you have the tasting room experience.

Is it available retail?

- Yes, yes.

So, well, actually not in any grocery stores or anything, but there are other places that may carry our wine as far as retail, but you can also find our wines located in other, maybe like bars and restaurants locally.

- Yeah, I was just wondering how much of a challenge that was.

- Well, and your website is?

- Our website is www.melanatedwine.com.

- Wonderful, I just wanna make a toast.

(laughing) - Cheers.

- Cheers, right?

- Cheers to entrepreneurship and to women doing their thing.

(laughing) - Yes, indeed.

- Cheers.

- Thank you, I was about to raise a glass.

- Yeah, etiquette was about to miss there.

- Thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

- Lashonda.

- And thank you for having me, Kenia.

- Of course.

- This was fun.

- I couldn't have this conversation without you.

So yes, Lashonda, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you.

- And Deb and I are coming for a tasting.

- Yes, we are.

- I will welcome you back.

- So don't be surprised.

- Definitely welcome you.

You will, you're gonna love it.

- I know I will.

Thank you so much.

And I thank you for watching.

If you want more content like this, we invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the hashtag #BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum and on the PBS video app.

I'm Kenia Thompson, I'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) - Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBSNC.